null

A null or empty value.

If a null value is used in an arithmetic operation it is assumed to be zero, but note that null == 0 is false and null+0 == 0 is true. Many functions return null to destinate failure and doing a simple if(func()) won't distinguish between null and 0. A better test is if (func() == null)

local v = null

int

A 32 bit integer value from 2,147,483,648 to -2,147,483,644

local i = 1
local count = i+100
local ch = 'a'
local h = 0x9076

float

A 32 bit floating point number

local f = 0.6
local time = 568.072

string

a string of characters

Individual characters can be accessed using s[1]. Indexing out of bounds will return 0. To check characters, use if (s[1] == 'a') and not if (s[1] == "a") as string contains characters, not strings.

Strings are immutable, so you can't do s[2] = 'x'

Strings, behave like C strings, are delimited by quotation marks(") and can contain escape sequences (\t, \n, \r, \\, \", \', \\, \0, \x##, and \u####.

More information about string functions can be found at Strings

local s = "this is a test"
local t = "line 1\nline 2"

point

A point value of two floats.

Each value can be accessed using p.x and p.y. You can not set a value by doing p.x = 10, you have to do p = point(10,20) You can do p += point(10,2) or p = p1 + p1.

local p = point(6,10)

table

A table contains multiple key and value entries.

Values can be accessed using table.key or table["key"].

Values can be added using table.key <- value or table["key"] <- value.

Using table?.key or table?["key"] will return null if the key does not exist.

local t = { name = "Ted" }
local h = {}
local h = { "dinner": "soup" }
local k = {
....name = "Donna"
....age = 67
}
local age = k.age

array

An array of values.

Array's are a simple sequence of values starting at index 0.

Array's don't have to contain the same type of value

a = [ "text", 6, 9.3 ] // Valid array.

Arrays can be accessed using a[index].

Values can be replaced using a[index] = value.

Arrays can be defined using a = [1,2,3,4,5]

local a = [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0]
local names = [ "Ted", "Betty", "Delores", null ]
local board = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9]]
local piece = board[2][1]

function

A value that is a pointer to a function

Functions in Dinky can be assigned to variables.

local f = function(int a) { return a+10 }
local v = f(100)
local t = {
    f = function() { return "sally" }
}
local e = t.f()

See Functions for more information about functions.

Dinky Types